Children’s Memorial Hospital First to Implement NICO Myriad

Chicago, IL – Children’s Memorial Hospital is the first children’s hospital in Illinois and among the first in the country to acquire a new minimally invasive neurosurgical medical device that makes pediatric brain and spine tumor removal faster and easier. The NICO Myriad has been used in removing brain tumors in children as young as 8 months and can be used in removing many of the most common malignant and non-cancerous pediatric brain and central nervous system tumors. It is the first automated and non-heat producing tumor removal device to operate in open and endoscopic surgical approaches and will give neurosurgeons at Children’s Memorial the ability to treat a wider spectrum of disease conditions and remove tumors from hard-to-reach areas of the brain and spine.

There are nearly 7,000 newly diagnosed childhood brain and spine tumors annually in the U.S. Children’s Memorial Hospital performs more than 100 pediatric brain and spine procedures every year. Using the Myriad device is expected to provide significant efficiency gains for the hospital through notable reductions in surgical procedure times – sometimes cutting operating room time in half.

“The Myriad system used through the working channel of an endoscope has revolutionized Pediatric Neurosurgery. It is minimally invasive, meaning we can operate through a small hole versus an open craniotomy, and works very efficiently at quickly removing tumors and cysts that can be debilitating to patients,” said Tadanori Tomita, MD, Chief of Neurosurgery at Children’s Memorial Hospital. “Patients greatly benefit from a minimally invasive approach with shorter hospital stays and faster recovery times, which can be a substantial cost savings to both the patient and the hospital.”

The Myriad device’s slender design and malleable tip allows for superior control and precise surgical work that is delivered by the physician through a foot pedal operation. The tool makes it easy for physicians to move from delicate tissue shaving near or on critical structures like optic nerves and carotid arteries to rapid tissue removal of large, more fibrous tumors without multiple insertions of different devices. Especially important for pediatric surgeries is the device’s small diameter and long tip length that make it particularly useful in the removal of masses deep in the brain either through traditional open craniotomy or by the more minimally invasive endoscopic technique.

Children’s Memorial will be using the Myriad device in a number of pediatric neurosurgical cases, including the most common benign or non-cancerous and localized tumors like pilocytic astrocytomas and the more aggressive, highly malignant or cancerous primary brain tumors like gliomas and medulloblastomas. Brain tumors are the second most common malignancy among children less than 20 years old, and medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor, comprising 14.5 percent of newly diagnosed pediatric cases. Forty percent of medulloblastoma patients are diagnosed before age 5 and 31 percent are between the ages of 5 and 9.

The Myriad system uses technology developed over 20 years and is currently used in several surgical specialties, and now brain and spine tissue removal. “We believe the device is a market enabler, meaning that it will enable significant advances in the minimally neurosurgical market that potentially lead to better outcomes and better patient care,” said Jim Pearson, president and CEO of NICO Corporation. “We expect the Myriad will help revolutionize the pediatric and, adult neuro and spine tumor removal market as we know it today. Children’s Memorial is on the leading edge of this revolution, and they will help take pediatric neurosurgery to the next level of advanced technology in tumor removal that is ultimately better for the patient.”

Children’s Memorial is one of the top pediatric hospitals in the country according to U.S. News & World Report. It is the pediatric teaching institution for Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

For more information about the NICO Myriad system, visit www.niconeuro.com or www.childrensmemorial.org.